VICTOR II., the successor of Leo IX., was consecrated in St. Peter's, Rome, on April 13, 1055. His father was a Swabian baron, Count Hartwig von Calw, and his own baptismal name was Gebhard. At the instance of Gebhard, bishop of Regensburg, uncle of the emperor Henry III., he had been appointed while still a young man to the see of Eichstadt; in this position his great talents soon enabled him to render important services to Henry, whose chief adviser he ultimately became. His nomination to the papacy by Henry, at Mainz, in September 1054, was made at the instance of a Roman deputation headed by Hildebrand, whose policy doubtless was to detach from the imperial interest one of its ablest supporters. In June 1055 Victor met the em peror at Florence, and held a council, which anew condemned clerical marriages, simony and the alienation of the estates of the church. In the following year he was summoned to Germany to the side of the emperor, and was with him when he died at Botfeld in the Harz on Oct. 5, 1056. As guardian of Henry's in fant son, and adviser of the empress Agnes, Victor now wielded enormous power, which he began to use with much tact for the maintenance of peace throughout the empire and for strength ening the papacy against the aggressions of the barons. He died shortly after his return to Italy, at Arezzo, on July 28, 1057.
His successor was Stephen IX. (X.) VICTOR III. (Dauferius Epifani), pope from May 24, io86 to Sept. 16, 1087, was the successor of Gregory VII. He was a son of Landolfo V., prince of Benevento, and was born in 1027. After studying in various monasteries he became provost of St. Benedict at Capua, and in 1055 obtained permission from Victor II. to enter the cloister at Monte Cassino, changing his name to Desiderius. He succeeded Stephen IX. as abbot in 1057, and his rule marks the golden age of that celebrated monastery; he pro moted literary activity, and established an important school of mosaic. Desiderius was created cardinal priest of Sta. Cecilia by Nicholas II. in 1059, and as papal vicar in south Italy con ducted frequent negotiations between the Normans and the pope. Among the four men suggested by Gregory VII. on his death bed as most worthy to succeed him was Desiderius, who was favoured by the cardinals because of his great learning, his con nection with the Normans and his diplomatic ability. The abbot,
however, declined the papal crown, and the year 1085 passed without an election. The cardinals at length proclaimed him pope against his will on May 24, 1086, but he was driven from Rome by imperialists before his consecration was complete, and, laying aside the papal insignia at Terracina, he retired to his beloved monastery. As vicar of the Holy See he convened a synod at Capua on March 7, 1087, resumed the papal insignia on the 21st of March, and received tardy consecration at Rome on the 9th of May. Owing to the presence of the antipope, Clement III. (Guibert of Ravenna), who had powerful partisans, his stay at Rome was brief. He sent an army to Tunis, which defeated the Saracens and compelled the sultan to pay tribute to the papal see. In August 1087 he held a synod at Benevento, which renewed the excommunication of Guibert; banned Arch bishop Hugo of Lyons and Abbot Richard of Marseilles as schismatics; and confirmed the prohibition of lay investiture. Falling ill at the synod, Vicar returned to Monte Cassino, where he died on Sept. 16, 1087. His successor was Urban II.